Augmented and Virtual Reality: Current Trends and Future Directions
A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Computing and Artificial Intelligence".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 October 2026 | Viewed by 132
Special Issue Editor
Interests: AR and VR; game design; game therapy; application design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are rapidly emerging as core technologies for next-generation immersive computing. Advances in artificial intelligence, computer vision and real-time rendering have transformed AR/VR systems from standalone visualization tools into integrated spatial computing platforms that seamlessly connect digital and physical environments.
Recent trends emphasize lightweight wearable devices, on-device intelligence and cloud–edge collaboration, enabling scalable and context-aware immersive experiences. In particular, the integration of generative AI facilitates dynamic content creation, adaptive storytelling and intelligent virtual agents, significantly enhancing user engagement and personalization across domains such as entertainment, healthcare, education and smart cities.
Despite these developments, key challenges remain, including interaction naturalness, latency, motion sickness and concerns related to privacy, security and ethical data use. Addressing these issues requires interdisciplinary approaches that integrate human–computer interaction, system architecture and data governance frameworks.
This Special Issue aims to explore current trends and future directions of AR and VR, highlighting innovative technologies, system-level solutions and real-world applications that will shape the evolution of immersive digital ecosystems.
Dr. JungYoon Kim
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- augmented reality (AR)
- virtual reality (VR)
- spatial computing
- human–computer interaction (HCI)
- immersive content
- metaverse
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